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Monthly Archives: October 2011

So, apparently, Halloween is coming up pretty soon. That’s cool I guess. It’s not really my thing, but whatever. Some people like the idea of dressing up as something they’re not and going to strangers’ houses and mooching all their candy. If that’s you just remember this is perfectly acceptable behavior for a rational adult like yourself. Don’t get mad, though, when those kids you’re walking around with (who would befriend Kim Jong Il if he had a puppy and some cotton candy) start to give you some less than flattering looks.

Dad?!?

I guess the lack of fascination with Halloween goes all the way back to my childhood. We used to have a bay window in the front of the house I grew up in. Under that window were some cabinets that housed all sorts of decorations and other useless junk. I was rummaging through it one day and came across some small posters of an owl, a pumpkin and maybe a scarecrow or something. Being in the holiday spirit I decided to put those posters on my door. My mother came walking by and saw my door and quickly started to take them down. I asked why. She began to lecture on how “we don’t worship Satan”. Of course those weren’t her exact words but that was the point she was trying to make, as far as I can recollect. We did, however, sometimes put a jack-o-lantern in that bay window if for no other reason than to play with my already confused mind.

But is Halloween really a Satanic holiday or does it have anything to do with the occult? Should Christians be adamant that the holiday is incompatible with their faith and organize events that counter it such as Hell Houses or “Fall Festivals”? Well, it turns out that a form of Halloween originated in Ireland a long, long time ago when farmers would dress up as ghosts and whatnot to ward off evil spirits so they wouldn’t destroy their crops during the fall harvest. They did some other things, like animal sacrifices, that we Christians don’t cotton to but to each his own I guess. As far as being incompatible with our faith, the more traditional view of Halloween came around 600 A.D. when Pope Boniface IV decided that the harvest festival would be a good time to celebrate Christian martyrs and saints who have passed on. This became know as All Saints Day and was celebrated on November 1st. All Saints Day was also known as All-hallows and the day before was called All-hallows eve or Halloween.

Is Christianity opposed to Halloween?

With all the history aside, here is what it boils down to: the only two things that aren’t opposed to Christianity are the Bible and the Church. Everything else is expendable. Yes, Halloween is opposed to Christianity. But so are these programs that try to scare people into following Christ and especially the “Hayrides for Jesus”. Now if you’re talking about mainstream “Christianity”, then no, that “Christianity” is not opposed to Halloween. As a matter of fact, that “Christianity” is not opposed to a whole lot. I guess abortion and gay marriage are about the only things it’s opposed to. The rest of the time, they just sit down in their Rick Warren Bible studies and learn how to live their best life now.

I’m sorry, I get them all confused sometimes.

Is Halloween a demonic holiday?

I’ll admit that is one thing I do not know a whole lot about. To be honest, I’ve never worried about demons or evil spirits or the such. When Jesus rose from the grave he put everything underneath him and I’m pretty sure demons are included in everything. There is one thing I do know about demons and evil spirits, though: they don’t inhabit the physical world. And since Halloween is a physical holiday, by default it can’t be demonic. People like to quote Ephesians 6.12 to say that our struggle is against evil spirits but they completely skip out on the part where that struggle is taking place. “…against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” So in case you dwell in the spiritual realm, you won’t be encountering evil spirits anytime soon. You ever find it interesting that there are no mentions of demon possession in the Old Testament or after the foundation of the Church? Every single demon possession happens during Jesus’s time on earth and the foundation of the Church. This likely points to demon possession being restricted only to Jesus’s time on earth. It makes a lot of sense if you look at it this way: the demons saw that God took the body of a man, which is evident in Luke 8, so they too decided to inhabit the body of men in order to fool and trick and sway attention away from Jesus.

You know, things haven’t changed much since the beginning of time. It’s still just God, Satan, us and our fruit. The great thing is that we have all of history to look back on. But some of us continue to say “the devils made us do it”. You saw how that turned out when that comment was made. So are you going to continue to complain about the “devils” or are you going to repent and trust Christ who has already smacked these “devils” around for you. You know how both scenarios turn out.